{{Short description|Species of dragonfly}} {{Speciesbox | name = Common hawker | image = Aeshna juncea LC0175.jpg | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 20 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=Boudot, J.-P. |date=2017 |title=''Aeshna juncea'' |volume=2017 |article-number=e.T165518A65835376 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T165518A65835376.en |access-date=20 November 2021}}</ref> | taxon = Aeshna juncea | authority = (Linnaeus, 1758) | synonyms = ''Aeshna rustica'' <small>Zetterstedt, 1840</small><br />''Aeshna undulata'' <small>Bartenev, 1930</small><br />''Libellula juncea'' <small>L. 1758</small> | range_map = Distribution of Aeshna juncea.png | range_map_caption = Range of ''Aeshna juncea'' }}
The '''common hawker''',<ref name=BDS>{{cite web|title=Common Hawker|url=http://www.british-dragonflies.org.uk/species/common-hawker|publisher=British Dragonfly Society|access-date=11 June 2011}}</ref> '''moorland hawker'''<ref name="iucn status 20 November 2021" /> or '''sedge darner'''<ref name="iucn status 20 November 2021" /> ('''''Aeshna juncea''''') is one of the larger species of hawker dragonflies. It is native to Palearctic (from Ireland to Japan) and northern North America. The flight period is from June to early October.
It is {{convert|74|mm}} long with a brown body. The male has a black abdomen with paired blue and yellow spots on each abdominal segment, and narrow stripes along the dorsal surface of the thorax. In the female, the abdomen is brown with yellow or sometimes green or blue spots. The wings of both sexes display a yellow costa (the major vein running along the leading edge of the wings). This species lacks the green thorax stripes of the southern hawker.
Female common hawkers will sometimes dive out of the sky and feign death in order to avoid copulating with males.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/2129185-female-dragonflies-fake-sudden-death-to-avoid-male-advances/|title=Female dragonflies fake sudden death to avoid male advances|work=New Scientist|access-date=2017-09-03|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Khelifa|first=Rassim|date=2017-06-01|title=Faking death to avoid male coercion: extreme sexual conflict resolution in a dragonfly|journal=Ecology|language=en|volume=98|issue=6|pages=1724–1726|doi=10.1002/ecy.1781|pmid=28436995|bibcode=2017Ecol...98.1724K |s2cid=42601970 |issn=1939-9170}}</ref>
thumb|left|Male hovering
==References== {{Reflist}} * {{ITIS |id=185981 |taxon=''Aeshna juncea'' |accessdate=6 February 2006}} * {{cite web|title=''Aeshna juncea''|url=http://www.habitas.org.uk/dragonflyireland/5624.htm|publisher=DragonflyIreland|access-date=11 June 2011}}
==External links== * {{Commons-inline|italic=1}} * {{Wikispecies-inline|Aeshna juncea|''Aeshna juncea''}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q732875}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Dragonflies of Europe Category:Aeshnidae Category:Insects described in 1758 Category:Odonata of Asia Category:Odonata of North America Category:Animal taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Aeshnidae-stub}}